Harland Clarke Holdings Corp v. Michael Milken

646 F. App'x 223
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 5, 2016
Docket15-1829
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 646 F. App'x 223 (Harland Clarke Holdings Corp v. Michael Milken) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harland Clarke Holdings Corp v. Michael Milken, 646 F. App'x 223 (3d Cir. 2016).

Opinion

*224 OPINION *

FUENTES, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Harland Clarke Holdings Corporation and Scantron Corporation allege that defendant Michael Milken made misrepresentations when negotiating the sale of a company to Scantron. The District Court ruled that Milken, who was not a party to the sales transaction or the supporting contracts, was a “Non-Recourse Party” under the terms of the applicable guarantee agreement and therefore immune from suit. Because this interpretation was correct, we will affirm the judgment.

I.

Plaintiff Scantron is a wholly owned subsidiary of Harland Clarke. In 2010, Scan-tron purchased a company called Global-Scholar from an entity called KUE Digital for approximately $135 million. The sale was effectuated by a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) between Scantron and KUE Digital. Although Milken was allegedly involved in negotiating the sale, he was not a party to the Purchase Agreement. Rather, he approached the deal from several layers of remove: Milken is an officer and equity holder of KUE Management Inc., which is the general partner of KUE LP, which is in turn an affiliate of KUE Digital.

The Purchase Agreement was supported by four limited guarantee agreements between Scantron and KUE Digital’s equity holders. Under the agreements, each eq-' uity holder, including KUE LP, guaranteed the performance of KUE Digital’s payment and indemnification obligations under the Purchase Agreement. The ■guarantees set certain “Caps” on each guarantor’s potential liability. For example, the agreed “Cap” for KUE LP was 83.9% of the purchase price. 1 The guarantee agreements also identified certain parties as “Non-Recourse Parties” against whom Scantron generally “has no remedy, recourse or right of recovery... ,” 2 Paragraph 6(b) of each agreement specified that neither Scantron nor its affiliates could bring any suit relating to the Global-Scholar transaction against any Non-Recourse Party. 3 Milken was not a guarantor and did not sign any of the guarantee agreements.

The transaction closed in January 2011. Two and a half years later, in June 2013, Plaintiffs filed- suit in Texas state court, alleging, inter alia, that Milken made misrepresentations during the 2010 negotiations that fraudulently induced Scantron to purchase GlobalScholar. The lawsuit was removed to federal court and then transferred to the District of Delaware pursuant to forum-selection clauses in the transaction agreements. 4 In March 2015, the Delaware District Court granted Milken’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that Plaintiffs’ suit was barred because Milken was “plainly” a Non-Recourse Party under the terms of KUE LP’s guarantee agreement (the “Guarantee”). 5 Plaintiffs now appeal that ruling. 6

*225 II. 7

We must decide whether, under Delaware law, Milken qualifies as a Non-Recourse Party under the terms of the Guarantee. Plaintiffs do not dispute that if Milken qualifies as a Non-Recourse Party, Paragraph 6(b) of the Guarantee bars their claims. 8

Paragraph 6(a) of the Guarantee defines Non-Recourse Parties as follows:

[T]he Guaranteed Party [Scantron] agrees and acknowledges that no Person other than the Guarantor [KUE LP] has any obligations under this Guarantee and that, notwithstanding that the Guarantor is a limited partnership, the Guaranteed Party [Scantron] has no remedy, recourse or right of recovery against, or contribution from, in each case, with respect to this Guarantee
(i) any former, current or future general or limited partners, stockholders,
Recourse Party and immune from suite, we do not reach this alternative ruling, holders of any equity, partnership or limited liability company interest, officer, member, manager, director, employees, agents, controlling Persons, assignee or any Affiliates of the Guarantor [KUE LP] (other than Seller), or
(ii) any former, current or future general or limited partners, stockholders, holders of any equity, partnership or limited liability company interest, officer, member, manager, director, employees, agents, attorneys, controlling Persons, assignee or Affiliates (other than Guarantor) of any of the foregoing
(those Persons and entities described in the foregoing clauses (i) and (ii) being referred to herein collectively as “Non-Recourse Parties”).... 9

Plaintiffs concede that “Milken is an Affiliate of the Guarantor.” 10 They nonethe *226 less argue that Milken is not a Non-Recourse Party because the bolded phrase “in each case, with respect to this Guarantee” modifies and limits the definition of Non-Recourse Party to claims brought “with respect to” the Guarantee. Under this reading, a party can only be a Non-Recourse Party in the context of a suit brought under the Guarantee; if the suit is not predicated on a breach of the Guarantee, a person who technically falls within clauses (i) or (ii) of Paragraph 6(a) still does not qualify as a Non-Recourse Party. According to Plaintiffs, “[t]he Guarantee bars suit against Milken only for claims with respect to [the Guarantee], which the fraud claims at issue here are not.” 11

This argument disregards the structure and plain language of Paragraph 6(a). That paragraph contains two relevant provisions: a standalone definition of the term “Non-Recourse Parties,” and a substantive disclaimer of remedies against Non-Recourse Parties. Paragraph 6(a) defines “Non-Recourse Parties” as the “Persons and entities described in ... clauses (i) and (ii).” 12 The definition is plain as can be: the term “Non-Recourse Parties” means the people listed inside clauses (i) or (ii). By contrast, the phrase “in each case, with respect to this Guarantee” sits outside clauses (i) and (ii) and modifies only the' preceding clause, in which Scan-tron disclaims any “remedy, recourse or right of recovery against, or contribution from” Non-Recourse Parties. The phrase “in each case” tells us that Scantron has disclaimed each of the listed forms of relief — be it a “remedy,” a “recourse,” a “right of recovery,” or a “right of contribution” — “with respect to” the Guarantee. And as Plaintiffs admit, Paragraph 6(b) moves beyond disclaiming relief solely “with respect to th[e] Guarantee” and prohibits all claims against Non-Recourse Parties in connection with the sale.

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Bluebook (online)
646 F. App'x 223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harland-clarke-holdings-corp-v-michael-milken-ca3-2016.